Roof collapses on parked cars in high winds on construction project

A row of parked cars was crushed on Monday 12 September when the roof of a building under construction collapsed in County Durham. There were very high winds, gusting to 60mph, reported at the time and the incident which was caught on video. The north-east of England was hit by strong winds from the tail-end of Hurricane Katia. Durham

Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene with more than 25 firefighters amid fears that workmen were trapped. A spokesman told the BBC that all persons had been accounted for and there were no injuries. He added:

“We got a call just after 9.30am to say a roof had fallen on cars at the Littleburn Industrial Estate. The wind lifted the pitched roof from the building under construction, it landed on 15 cars, which we believe belong to staff of a nearby bakery.

A controlled demolition of the two ends of the building will take place later on today as the structure was deemed unsafe in high winds.”